Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky is inching closer and closer to its June 22nd release. There’s been no small amount of hype surrounding the game, which simulates an entire universe worth of star systems through advanced procedural generation algorithms. 1984’s Elite was one of the earliest titles to use procedural generation and featured wireframe 3D graphics and over 1000 star systems the player could visit. Procedural generation allowed Elite to populate its environment at run-time, which meant that the early space sim weighed in at a mere 71 kilobytes.
While closed-door sessions and limited, guided playthroughs of No Man’s Sky have been promising, it remains to be seen whether the game will actually be fun to play. 2014’s Elite: Dangerous featured a procedurally generated galaxy with over 400 billion systems, 30 years after the original. Yet, critical reaction to Elite: Dangerous was mixed: A large part of this was because of how the game’s lack of concrete direction or aim, together with its immense scale led to the gameplay experience being dull.
A recent IGN First video we’re linking to here showcases experiences on five different planets in No Man’s Sky. What do you think? Are you pumped for No Man’s Sky or do you think it’s too much of a good thing? Let us know!